Optometrists are now warning parents not to consider laser pointers as toys after a Tasmanian teenager caused permanent eye damage to his eyes by looking into one.
Optometrist Ben Armitage received a call from a doctor asking him to investigate why a 14-year-old boy was having vision problems. “He came into see me and on the Friday night he’d got hold of a laser pen and unfortunately shined it in his eyes for a very brief period of time,” Dr. Armitage told abc.net.au. “Unfortunately, he’s managed to cause himself permanent damage to the back of his eye.”
Photographs of the boy’s eyes show laser burns to each of his retinas, and while the boy did not feel pain at the time, the impact on his vision was almost immediate. “The back of his eyes on both sides are showing laser burns, so he’s actually managed to burn the retina at the back of the eye near an area called the macular,” Dr. Armitage said.
“Unfortunately that’s the area where your detailed central vision takes place and therefore it’s had somewhat of an exaggerated effect on how much sight he’s lost.” Dr. Armitage continued that “His vision is down to about 25 per cent of what we call 20/20 vision and unfortunately at this stage it’s unlikely that that vision is going to recover.” While there may be some slight improvements once the swelling reduces, the laser burns are basically areas where he’s not going to be able to see ever again.
Chief executive Geoff Squibb said the boy’s loss of eyesight showed the level of damage that could occur with these laser pointers. “I think we’ve got to realise that the consequence of the high intensity of these lasers can have such serious effect on a person’s vision,” said Squibb. “If parents purchase or allow their children to have access to these pens they ought to supervise them very, very carefully and, in fact, better off trying to warn them off them because we’ve just seen in this particular case where the future lifestyle of this young person has been seriously affected,” he continued.
This boy’s sad story should be a warning to parents everywhere. Please SHARE on Facebook!!!
[Featured Image Credit: jumblejoy.com]
Doctors Warn Laser Pointers Are Dangerous And Shouldn’t Be Considered Toys is an article from: LifeDaily